Rendering of LaGuardia Airport, where an employee allegedly used a cellphone to film a woman in the bathroom. Photo via Port Authority.

By Jonathan Sperling

A LaGuardia Airport employee who allegedly used a cellphone to secretly record a woman in an airport bathroom was charged with second-degree unlawful surveillance on Thursday, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced.

Samuel Rodriguez, 39, of 130th Street in College Point, was arrested and charged with second-degree unlawful surveillance for allegedly secretly recording “pretty girls” as they used the airport bathroom.

“The defendant is accused of an egregious invasion of privacy in an attempt to satisfy his lewd sexual desires. The victim was literally saved by the bell when the defendant’s cell phone alarm began to buzz and she spotted the hidden phone,” Brown said in a statement. “This kind of depravity will not be tolerated in Queens County and the defendant now faces prison time for his alleged actions.”

The charges stem from an incident on Wednesday, when a woman entered a one-stall unisex restroom right after the defendant stepped out at around 9 p.m. Right after entering the stall, the woman heard a beeping sound and spotted a cellphone that had been stashed in the paper towel dispenser, according to court filings.

Taking a closer look at the phone, the victim played back the most recent video clip, which allegedly showed Rodriguez placing the phone in the dispenser and angling it so that anyone using the toilet directly across from the paper towels would be recorded.

Port Authority Police officers stopped Rodriguez and inquired about the cellphone, at which point he reportedly responded, ‘I know what this is about and I’m sorry,’ stating in sum and substance ‘I was trying to video pretty girls. I was going to masturbate to it at home.’